I was just quoted in an article regarding, you guessed it, Portland strippers. This time, it’s addressing the drafting of legislation that would regulate the Portland strip club industry. From The Daily Beast:

On September 4, a panel met for the first time. There were only three Portland strippers at the meeting, along with Wahab and two Pac/West lobbyists, Caleb Hayes and Courtney Johnston.

"I think a lot of girls are actually kind of afraid to get involved because they are worried their bosses will find out and fire them. I want girls to know they can attend the meeting and have input without being named or outed," Portland stripper Elle Stanger, 28, told The Daily Beast. Stanger was one of the three dancers that attended the first panel, and her monthly column in the industry magazine Exotic gives her a unique vantage point on the city's club scene.

Each issue of Exotic contains a map of Portland-area adult businesses. At any given time, there are around 50 strip clubs listed, along with another 50 related businesses like video stores, peep shows, and 'adult lingerie modeling' shops, locally known as 'jack shacks.'

While it's difficult to keep track of adult businesses that tend to open and close frequently, it seems no one has ever bothered to try and take a census of how many workers there are in Portland's strip club industry. The city's population of strip club workers- from dancers to DJ's, cooks, bouncers, and servers -is constantly shifting and likely in the tens of thousands.